Making Whiskey Sour

"We can hardly get him in the arena." a caller, seeking advice,
explained to me.

"He's ring sour," I remarked to show I'd been listening and
understood.

"No, he's not," she protested defensively, "he's just very
difficult to get into the arena."

A ring sour horse is any horse that does not willingly enter the
arena. If your horse won't go willingly and easily into the arena
whether he's a park, speed event, cutting or anything else, horse,
he's ring sour. Somewhere the horse has gotten the idea the arena
is an unpleasant place to be. He then sensibly resists going there
as much as he can.

Strictly adhered-to routines cause ring sour horses more than any
other factor. The horse does the same thing over and over to the
point it gets bored, or becomes frustrated by not being able to
perform the routine in the manner it has been taught. Like you, it
wants to avoid unpleasant situations.

I've seen riderless barrel horses run the pattern, and even turn
Port-a-Johns. I've announced and judged shows where heavily shown
horses responded to the announcer long before the rider did. I've
seen horses who knew the routine so well a mannequin could ride
them to a ribbon. The routines are so ingrained in these horses
that they are excellent candidates for ring sour. Mix in some
frustration by preventing them from performing the way, or when,
they are used to and before you know it they are reluctant to enter
the arena.

You can stave off, even prevent, ring sour by varying the routine
of showing as much as possible. Speed event horses become ring
sour more readily than other horses because of the intensity and
fast pace of the events. Some speed eventers refuse to do anything
with their horses other than their specialty event. They reason
that taking their barrel horses in a Western Pleasure class takes
the competitive finely-honed edge off. They feel it distracts from
the hours spent ingraining pattern routines into the horse. This
strict adherence to a rigid procedure encourages ring souring.

A few years back a new boarding stable sponsored a summer series of
speed event shows to promote their facility. Placings were
determined by high point at the end of the season. I decided to
show up at the first show to show my support because the saddle
club I belonged to was using their arena for shows. I grabbed a
13h mare I had in the pasture at the time and went over. She was
the first one to come up to me and I wasn't planning on seriously
competing. There I was surrounded by several dozen dyed-in-the-
wool speed eventers with their "hot" taller, heavier, faster
veteran horses. The disparaging remarks I received about my horse
from some of them prompted me to announce I was going after the
first place trophy.

I was in first place on that little horse right up to the last show
where I ended up an extremely close second because of a rule wording
and how the points were assigned. Most of the competition soured
out. Their horses couldn't handle routine changes which cropped up
from time to time. Wrist watch timing ("As soon as Mickey's hand
is straight up I'll yell, GO!"), and tight patterns (odd-sized
arena) are just two of the things that will throw the order of an
ingrained routine procedure out of whack.

None of that stuff meant anything to my horse. She had no routines
to be affected by changes of any kind because I take great pains to
make sure my horses don't develop any routines to screw up. A
barrel racing routine, developed using a regulation pattern at home
under optimum conditions, can be greatly thrown off by the seldom
uniform distance between barrels at a show. Instead of using an
inflexible pattern requiring three barrels in a particular
arrangement I have a number of basic inter-changeable movements.
That way, I can flexibly arrange my "mini" routines to fit a
particular speed event situation regardless of what it is.

When you build your runs from an inter-changeable collection of
basics your horse becomes used to looking to you for its'
directions. This leaves little area for frustration caused by
changes and delays because the horse is unaware that there are any.
When you do the same thing every time you enter the arena you leave
your horse open to ring sour. The horse gets to know the routine
better than you'd possibly expect. Change it, or delay it, a few
times, and frustration builds up and he won't like it. He'll look
for ways to relieve the situation and the door is open for ring
sour.

I want my horse to look to me for everything in and out of the
arena. The only things I do the same way every time I do them are
the commands and aids. Every time I tell the horse to stop, I do
it the same way. However, I don't run an event the same way every
time. I try to eliminate predictability as much as possible. I
don't want a horse that becomes mind-set on a long routine. Basic
commands (whoa, turn, change lead) are long enough routines for my
horse to follow. Combining these basics to fit a situation are the
job of a reasoning mind and I don't know any horses who have one.

At a show I try to keep my horse with me and vary the things I do
with her as much as possible. I may lead her into the ring when I
go help set up a pattern (you can carry a prop and lead your horse
at the same time). I may ride her into the arena and help set up
the pattern while riding her (You can carry a prop and ride at the
same time with practice). Or I may ride her into the arena while
others are warming up then dismount and lead her on foot through an
imaginary speed event pattern. I do anything I can think of to
vary the routine as much as I can.

I vary my run procedure as much as I can too. I may mount outside
the arena one time, inside the next. I may enter the arena at
speed one time, walk, trot, or lead in the next. I may vary the
exit the same way. I may even choose to take her through the
pattern slowly or even deliberately break the pattern by starting
it in the middle.

Any speed event can be broken down into increments that can be
mixed in any order to compete in any event. All you need is a
smooth and rapid take off, a flat out run until you say otherwise,
a turn that lasts as long as you ask for it and a stop. As an
example when I run a pattern the horse need only to go like a bat
WHEN I tell him to go until I tell him to do something else. It
doesn't matter of the barrel is 70, 80, 90 or a 100 feet from the
starting point, my job is to tell the horse when to slow down and
when to make the turn. If I don't, we'll go by that barrel like
eggs through a hen and it won't matter one wit to the horse. He is
doing a simple can hardly fail task...running until I tell him to
do something else.

Spending entry fees to intentionally throw a speed event run seems
like hypocrisy to most eventers. I consider it an investment and
charge it to schooling. As a horse person I have an ethical
responsibility to strive to know my horse at least as well as I
know myself. I owe it to my horse to be aware when conditions are
not suitable to winning.

If I or my mount are not razor sharp and the placing times are
substantially above the crowd average and fall within a ten/one
hundredths of a second range separating the placings, I'll
sometimes turn in the slowest time just to save ring sour causing
wear and tear. A good speed event horse takes time to develop, and
with thoughtful care will give years of good willing service. A
speed event horse sours easily and it is the responsibility of the
rider to do everything possible to prevent souring.